I still wonder what Paul Stamets was alluding to about crimini mushrooms and cancer risk on his episode of the Joe Rogan podcast where he seemed unable to talk freely
Paul Stamets is a great story teller, but he’s regarded as a quack among the scientific community. Going on Joe Rogan and alluding to some conspiracy that would bring him harm for warning people of the truth about eating mushrooms is particularly silly, because in doing so he communicated the warning he supposedly had to hide. Are we supposed to believe the conspirators they would harm him are okay with him telling everyone to avoid portabello mushrooms as long as he doesn’t reveal why?
As per reddit, so take it with a grain of redd salt:
"What he doesn't want to say out loud in plain English is that agaratine containing mushrooms LIKE PORTABELLOS when consumed RAW are highly CARCINOGENIC while some compounds in white button mushrooms can help prevent and treat breast cancers agaratines can cause cancer, they are heat unstable so if cooked it's not a big risk but raw like they are served often in salads really could be causing cancer. If someone like Stamets came out and said that point blank he could be sued for making radical claims..." [0]
Its reddit though and far less hand wavy for the reddit poster to also note agaratine also degrades rapidly when stored and is only theorized to be carcinogenic, the proof of which remains to be shown.[1]
[1]Schulzová, V.; Hajslová, J.; Peroutka, R.; Gry, J.; Andersson, H. C. (2002). "Influence of storage and household processing on the agaritine content of the cultivated Agaricus mushroom". Food Additives and Contaminants. 19 (9): 853–62. doi:10.1080/02652030210156340. PMID 12396396. S2CID 23953741.
(https://sci-hub.se/10.1080/02652030210156340)
As the reddit comments state, "big portabello." Mushroom farming is a big business, even for Stametz, and widespread, predictably alarmist media coverage about the yes but no nature of carcinogens in criminis wouldn't be good for business. So he did a less than optimal job of steering clear of the issue on Rogancast. And everyone picked up on it, except for news media, so far...
I mean, scientists, public commentators, regulators have been calling out agribusiness over tobacco, sugar, meat, alcohol for over a century at this point. It slightly stretches credibility to imagine that someone complaining about mushrooms on a podcast would be the breaking point.
In general, the rule of thumb is to never eat any mushrooms raw. But there are a few exceptions, including button mushrooms. I won't eat raw mushrooms, except maybe truffles (if you really cook truffles then what's the point?).
And they are both currently, wide spread exceptions. Food safety bodies do not require them to be cook, their raw use is widespread, some mushroom experts still say it is ok, etc. The status quo has not yet changed.
